Chambers - Old Love

When a hardcore band with metal influences, like Chambers, takes a healthy dose of blues based rock (even southern rock) and mixes it with an aggressive garage punk sound it’s hard to not to sit up and take notice. On their debut release Old Love, the New Jersey boys throw down some incendiary licks and biting diatribes of which the like, haven’t registered on any metal detectors since Guns ‘n Roses’ Appetite for Destruction.  Like G ‘n R, Chambers is the street; a hot tin can brimming with metallic epileptic seizures exploding like firebombs to the brain.

From the onset of the first song “Pig”, the gritty “street fighting” assault rarely lets up throughout the eleven tracks that make up Old Love.  This is possibly what Black Flag and G ‘n R would have sounded like had they joined forces in their prime.  Chambers embody the same razor sharp attack of those aforementioned bands, hacking away at the ear drums with an incessantly urgent spirit and a raw barrage of hyper noise.  There is nothing sweet, calculated or polished here. It’s rough around the edges and in between, in true street rock ‘n punk fashion. 

“Ripper” is so goddamn infectious with its gang shout along chorus, that the mosh pits won’t be empty when they hit the road in support of this album. But it isn’t alone in the pack here, the title track with its hook of the year lyric “Old Love, You’re Fucking Dead to Me!” ain’t no “Sweet Child O' Mine”. “Here’s That Song I Wrote About You” is a buzz saw of frenzied guitar riffing and soloing that you are lucky to walk away from with all limbs attached. Seriously, this record is crammed full of devastating little ditties of primal energy that kick you in the teeth with youthful abandon and aggression. “Crap Out” throws a quick curveball with its falsetto afloat over a droning warbling guitar riff but otherwise still holds true to form with the other tracks. The band continues to charge passionately through this half hour disc of sonic overload with undeniable fervor and determination.  A couple of tracks have a certain amount of “sameness” but that tends to disappear after repeated listenings. The fret work, on the whole, is a pure delight and downright brilliant at times. While the guitars take the spotlight, the bass is nearly inaudible on many tracks and the drumming, while solid, is pretty standard fare. Vocally, I have no idea how Dan Pelic is going to keep his hoarse bellow from blowing out on a full tour. More power to him if he can belt these songs out in a live setting, night after night, because his delivery style is very effective on Old Love. The lyrics are very blunt street-wise prose which echoes the G ‘n R prototype - but even more clever and caustic. They are written so true to life, I can’t possibly imagine them as not being little autobiographical tales of the band members' lives.

Old Love is like a favorite hat, t-shirt or a pair of shoes that you will gladly put on again and again to slide into that elusive comfort zone that nothing else can reach because no matter what, it never gets old.

Release Date: June 26, 2010
Label: Band Self Released

TRACK LISTING

1.  The Pig
2.  Notch
3.  Ripper
4.  Old Love
5.  Here's That Song
     I Wrote About You
6.  Crap Out
7.  Take My Juice
8.  Glamour Her
9.  Fuck It Out
10.  The Nest
11.  Tragedy

Total playing time: 32:05

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Reviewer: M.J.

June 26, 2010